Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a document management client which offers a user a folder hierarchical structure virtually constructed with respect to a document management server which does not have a function of managing a document in the folder hierarchical structure and manages the document by indexing.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, document management systems are used in offices. The document management systems store and manage document image files obtained by digitalizing various paper documents produced in relation to business operations and document files created by office applications by computers as documents.
There are two main types of management methods described below in the document management system.
The first method is for constructing a folder hierarchy having meaning in a system and storing a document according to the meaning of the folder hierarchy. The first method can finely control classification of documents to be registered in the folder hierarchy, and data can be intuitively classified by viewing the folder hierarchy, so that the method is adopted in file management methods on many computers as well as the document management systems.
The second method is for accurately indexing and managing a document. In the second method, a document is registered without using a folder hierarchical structure as a storage location and, when a user specifies an index imparted to a desired document and performs an index search, the document is narrowed down and displayed. However, according to the second method, a user needs to perform an initial setup by specifically defining an index to be used and impart the index to each management target document without fail. In addition, in the case of changing a range or a purpose of use of the document management system, maintenance is required to reconsider the index setting.
When general client applications accessible to a plurality of document management servers are considered, changing an operation method according to a type of the document management server is not suitable for user's work efficiency from in terms of unity of operability. For users who are familiar with operations in the folder hierarchical structure, it is desirable that the folder hierarchy management can be performed in document management servers which do not have functions of performing management in the folder hierarchical structure.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-069912, a technique is discussed in which meta information including an index is added to actual data of a management target file, and a database of a keyword system regarding a virtual folder and a virtual file is stored, so that a file is managed using the virtual folder. According to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-069912, a file can be managed in a virtual folder hierarchy.
However, according to the method discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-069912, it is necessary to manage similar information pieces (file path information and the like) in two places, namely the actual data and the database, for realizing the file management in the virtual folder. In addition, management information is added to the metadata of the actual file as the management target, originality of the document created by a user cannot be ensured in the document management system. Further, when management data pieces expanding a function provided by the document management system increases, information pieces to be managed are also increased concomitantly therewith. Furthermore, since similar information pieces are managed in a plurality of places, the information pieces in the plurality of places need to be updated when the information is changed, and thus there is an issue that a system load is also increased.